I was there when ……
By Lois McGill
I was there the day the world changed for-ever. Having me tea in front of the telly – mum liked me to watch Newsround – said it would do me good to know what was going on in the world and then they just came out and JUST said it; Boyzone were splitting up – I didn’t believe it, this couldn’t be happening – I started to cry and me mum said I was being stupid, she couldn’t see that my whole life was ruined – me and Sharon had been saving up for years to go to their next concert – I had to phone Sharon straight away – it was busy but as soon as I put the phone down it rang – I grabbed it and Sharon was crying and then I was crying – this just couldn’t be happening to us.
Sharon came round that night and we sat and played all their records in my bedroom – I had a big poster of them all on one wall and then a big poster of Keith on the other – Keith was my favourite – Sharon loved Stephen the most – it was funny that neither of us chose Ronan as our favourite as he seemed to be the most famous but perhaps that’s why – and anyway he was married. We played Love Me For A Reason over and over and over and then came up with a plan.
We came up with a list first of all of all the possible things we could do to make them see that they JUST had to stay together and their splitting up would just kill us – well this is the list:
one Kidnap Keith or Stephen – we weren’t daft though even we knew this wasn’t a goer; we ditched this idea as they would probably have body guards and even if they didn’t I’m only 5ft 2 and Sharon’s a bit fat – Sharon didn’t think we could overpower either of them – I thought we had a chance with Stephen but we weren’t idiots.
two Go on a hunger strike – this we thought would get their attention – we would be on the news and in the papers and they would have to get back together or at least come and visit us on our death beds – we decided to start it right away but 2 hours later Mum came up with some plates of cheese on toast and Sharon said it was rude not to eat it and kiddies were starving in Africa so we shouldn’t waste it
three We could camp outside their house – it must be easy to find out where they live – or so we thought but neither of us had a computer and we didn’t know how to find out – Sharon hasn’t got a sleeping bag either and it was dead cold already in my bedroom – Mum doesn’t switch the central heating on until after half term – she says we might go away on holiday but we never do.
four A letter campaign – we have to get everyone we know to write a letter to them to beg them not to split up – Dad said this worked for Star Trek in the 60’s even though it did take 10 years – but it you want something bad enough you will get it – I love my dad he didn’t say we were stupid and said we should do it.
We decided on number 4 – and set out a plan of action; because we know everyone is lazy we thought we would write a sample letter to give to all the girls at school so they knew the sort of thing to write and then ask them to send them off to the fan club address and then we wrote lots of letters saying the same thing but in different words and some with red pens and some in black and some in blue and then with our left hands (we made those sound as if they were from little kids) we even typed a few and signed them Mr and Mrs Somebody. We did it for weeks and must have sent about a million letters – the cost of the stamps was a lot but we had the concert money to spend now and anyway you have to make sacrifices.
We didn’t hear anything and everyone else got fed up but Sharon and me wrote a letter from us every week and it became a sort of habit – it was like having someone to confide in and tell all my hopes and desires and problems to – I got to quite depend on putting my thoughts down on paper and sending them off it was as if I was sending off my problems too.
And me dad was right – it worked and it only took 8 years – it was announced on the telly and they are still together and Sharon and me were sent tickets to their comeback tour – Back Again from the fan club and we were invited back stage and met them all.
When Stephen died Sharon was dead upset – we both bought sympathy cards and sent them off and dressed in black all week and were very sad. Sharon even went to church and had a pray. And now we both work for the fan club and hope to start careers in music journalism so you see – don’t not do something you really want to because others say its stupid –to quote the great man Albert Einstein
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”